1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, in which a dialysis solution is brought through a catheter in the peritoneal cavity, is left there for the time requested to transfer into it the toxic substances and the water contained in the blood, and is then taken out.
More particularly the invention concerns a peritoneal dialysis system in which the exhausted liquid drained from the peritoneal cavity is housed in a container which is separate from the container in which the fresh solution to be fed to said cavity is housed. The invention also comprises the device for the embodiment of the above system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A method recently developed in Canada and USA is known in which a sterile quantity of solution is transfered from a single flexible atoxic plastic bag to the peritoneal cavity of a patient through a simple connection system to the infusion set using various connecting technics between bag and set and between set and catheter. These connections are made in the "open" and can be the causes of peritonitis complications. As presently employed, the U.S. and Canadian system calls for the collection of the used dialysis solution from the peritoneal cavity in the same bag which contained the fresh solution before its injection into the peritoneal cavity. The bag is rolled up and kept on the patient's body in several ways, e.g. placed in a cloth packet suspended around the waist of the patient till the next dialysis at an interval of about 5 hours. This involves obviously remarkable inconvenience for the patient who is obliged to carry the uncomfortable bag.
The clinic statistics report several incidents of septic peritonitis due just to the repeated connections of the infusion set to the dialysis liquid bag, these connections are carried out outside the hospital (at home, office, factory, etc.) by the patient himself on an "open" junction.